


Heartbeat Thunder

by aryelee



Series: The Senpai Collection [3]
Category: Notice Me Senpai! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, how did this get so long, how do u even write summaries, the basketball team is the best wingman tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 20:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8592250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryelee/pseuds/aryelee
Summary: Yuu watches Makoto's practices regularly, and it turns into an easy friendship and even easier love story. Or, they talk and get caught in the rain and fall in love like dorks.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this was requested by PandasRCute and im so sorry?? school has killed me but ive been working on this on and off and it got way longer than i thought it would be. 
> 
> but anyways, enjoy your stupidly in love senpais
> 
> feel free to request any of the senpais and i will do my best to write them (tho it may take some time like this one)

“You know,” he says conversationally as he collapses onto the bench besides Yuu, “You’ve been coming to a lot of our practices lately.”

Yuu shrugs with a small smile, never once looking Makoto in the eye. “I just wanted to see what you did,” he explains. “In basketball I mean!” he quickly adds on, hands held up in front of him as though to prepare apologizing, flustered with pink cheeks. 

Makoto laughs and watches how Yuu’s blush darkens, and grins. “I figured. No need to worry so much about it, Yuu.”

Yuu bites his lip and looks away, leaving them both in a silence filled with uncertainty a hesitation as they searched for the right words to say. Makoto takes the time to stretch his legs out in front of him and drink half the water in his bottle. The rest of the team was beginning to leave the locker room, smiling and calling out goodbyes as they each headed home to begin their homework for the weekend. 

His sigh startles Yuu into jumping ever so slightly, but Makoto doesn’t notice as he stands. “I need to get changed,” he says, “I’ll see you at the next practice?”

“Er - that’s tomorrow right?” 

Makoto nods and Yuu smiles, bright and full of happiness. “Tomorrow then!” he says, his voice light with cheer.

Makoto doesn’t think much of the warmth that fills him when he gets his answer, but does let his mind wander back to it that night, remembering the youthful boy who went to basketball practices for him. He falls asleep thinking of Yuu’s smile. It was the most genuine smile he had ever seen and radiated warmth. Gentle, like sunshine. It makes him think of Yuu, and his blush and the slenderness of his fingers and the melodic quality of his voice.

He wonders if there’s a way to speed up time to the next practice. After all, he’s never had someone wait for him at practice. Not for drills or advice or questions about upcoming games. But for company and to support him and cheer him on when exhaustion pulled his limbs down. And knowing that someone who simply wanted to be with him was waiting -- well.

It’s a nice feeling.

 

* * *

 

The sky was cloudy and grey the next day, which only served to brighten Makoto’s mood. He had always loved the rain. The fat drops that rolled down his cheeks, the cold winds that howled around him, the deafening thunder that made him think the world was ending -- Makoto loves all this more than anything else in the world.

The cold wind bites through his jacket as he bikes to school on Saturday, wondering if it would rain soon, and trying to push down the hope rising in him as he wondered if Yuu really would show up.

He runs his hand through his hair as he pushed open the door to the gym, trying to neaten it up from the mess the wind had made of it. His teammates wave and call him over, and though Makoto smiles at them, his eyes don’t linger on the energetic movements of his team but go to the stands. 

Yuu sits on the first row, kicking his legs as he stares up at the ceiling with his yellow rabbit held loosely in his hand. Makoto can’t help but grin when he sees the familiar sight of curly pink hair.

_ He came like he said he would, _ Makoto thinks, eyes softening as he watched Yuu. One of his teammates claps a hand on his back, smirking at how the captain flinches in surprise, and winks at him.He pushes Makoto towards Yuu with a knowing grin, then turns and gives a thumbs up to the rest of the team. They respond with a multitude of peace signs, thumbs up, and finger guns.

Makoto drops his bag on the floor in front of the stands, smiling when Yuu jumps and grips his yellow rabbit closer. 

“Hey,” he says, voice barely above a whisper.

“Hey,” Yuu parrots back, just as quiet. His lips curl up into a small smile that captivates Makoto, momentarily stunning him before he blinks and looks away.

“I didn’t think you were going to come,” he admits, ducking his head down and trying to force the heat out of his face. He would never hear the end of it from his team if they saw him blushing and flustered.

Yuu tilts his head to one side, like a puppy, and Makoto sees why he’s known as the cutest boy in school. “Of course I was,” he answers, as though it were the simplest thing on earth, “Why wouldn’t I?”

Makoto shrugs. “This just doesn’t seem like something you’d spend a lot of time on.”

“Have you already forgotten all the practices I’ve been to before?”

“Right,” Makoto laughs, “How could I forget.”

Yuu smiles up at him, looking at him from under his eyelashes and suddenly Makoto can’t remember what they were talking about. His eyes are a strange mix of blue and green that makes him think of the beach and Makoto can’t bring himself to look away. 

A voice snaps him out of it as one of his teammates yells at him to hurry up and start practicing with them. He nods at them and takes off his jacket, carelessly throwing it onto his bag. He’s already in his uniform, not wanting to waste time changing. Yuu seems to find it amusing as he stifles a laugh and clears his throat when Makoto looks over.

“What?” Makoto asks, an eyebrow raised as he fought to keep his lips from twitching upwards into a smile.

“Nothing,” Yuu says, innocently as ever, even though he looks to the side to avoid looking into his eyes. “Just wondering why I’m surprised that you came here already in your uniform.”

He tosses his head arrogantly. “One must always be prepared for a game,” he states pompously. And immediately broke down in laughter, unable to keep the act up. Yuu’s shoulders shook as well as he tried to keep from laughing out loud. 

“Ah well, I guess it’s time for me to practice,” Makoto says, already turning towards to court.

“Good luck!” Yuu calls, and Makoto ducks his head as he smiles, a gentle, soft one he rarely lets others see.

As he runs onto the court and grabs a ball, he can’t help but look over to the stands. Yuu watches with bright eyes, head moving back and forth as he tried to keep track of everything going on. And having someone support him and patiently attend practice after practice made something warm swell in Makoto’s chest.

Even his parents didn’t come to his games, much less his practices.

But Yuu was there.

He smiles. It was a nice feeling, he decides. 

 

* * *

 

Thunder booms outside, startling everyone into stopping. Rain begins pounding against the windows of the gym, creating a calming rhythm that Makoto wants to listen to forever. But it’s raining hard and one of his teammates calls out to the team that it would last until early morning, according to the weather app on his phone. 

Nodding, Makoto claps his hands together. The team immediately turns their attention to him, stopping the drills they were doing to listen. 

“Alright, guys,” he says, “The rain isn’t going to be stopping anytime soon. Let’s clean up and head home for now before it gets any worse.”

“Right!”

Almost as one, the team moves to put the basketballs away. Two of the first years head to the storage closet to grab some mops to clean the floor. Makoto heads over to the upper years, who pass each ball to each other before tossing it into the cart, and catches the last one without any effort. He easily shots it into the cart, where it hits the sides and shakes the cart. 

He grabs the handles of the cart and prepares to push it into the storage room. Smiling at his team, he says, “Go ahead and get dressed. I’ll take care of it from here.”

They smile and run towards the locker room, calling out thanks over their shoulders. Makoto watches them cross the gym for a moment before turning his attention back to the task on hand. He’s been practicing for years and regularly exercising; he’s stronger than a regular high school student is. Still, the cart full of basketballs is heavy and he struggles a bit pushing it to the storage room. 

He’s straining and and arms are starting to shake from exhaustion when Yuu appears besides him. He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he pushes the cart with Makoto. It goes quickly, the cart moving faster with Yuu helping, even faster than if Makoto had one of his teammates helping. 

Once the cart is against the wall of the storage room, they step back together. Makoto bumps his shoulder against Yuu’s and says, “I didn’t know you were that strong.”

Yuu shrugs, looking away as embarrassment colors his cheeks pink. “Most people don’t expect me to be strong,” he admits, “But I’m sure I’m not strong. There are people out there that are  _ way _ stronger.”

Makoto raises an eyebrow and turns his head to look at Yuu as he says, “But I’m sure that you’re stronger than me.”

“Am not,” Yuu mutters, trying to force down the blush.

“And most of the team,” he adds on, grinning when the blush spreads to Yuu’s ears. 

He covers his face with his hands and groans, “ _ Stop _ ,” and Makoto laughs before he claps his hand on Yuu’s back. “Alright, I’m done teasing you now.”

Yuu finally looks at him, and his eyes are big and blue and he’s pouting with those full, pink lips of his, and his cheeks are still pink and -- Makoto almost can’t  _ stand _ how cute he is. Surely no one could be so adorable. And yet, there he was, standing before him.

Yuu must have sold his soul or something to be so cute, Makoto decides. There’s no other explanation. 

When they step out of the storage room together, most of the team is already heading, bracing themselves at the door before running into the downpour. The small group that remained by the door nudge each other when they see their captain, and turn as one to wave and shout their goodbyes. A few winks were thrown in as well. Not sure why they were doing that, but willing to play along, Makoto winks back. The sudden giggling and playful nudging they gave each other when they saw his wink left the captain even more confused. 

They run into the rain before he could ask. 

Makoto shrugs and moves to the stands to get to his bag. 

Yuu follows, glancing at the rain pounding on the window with worried eyes. He picks up his yellow bunny from the bench and holds it close to his chest. 

Makoto notices as soon as he looks at Yuu, having slung his bag over his shoulder. He follows his gaze to the rain-pelted windows. He walks up to Yuu until their side by side, and gently nudges his shoulder. 

“Everything alright?” he asks.

It takes Yuu a moment to respond, saying in quiet voice almost drowned out by the rain, “Yeah. I just didn’t bring an umbrella and I have to walk for some time before I can get home.”

Understanding dawns on him then, and Makoto immediately begins thinking of solutions. One pops into his head as soon as Yuu spoke his worries, but he’s not sure he should say it. Would he scare Yuu off? Was it strange? Maybe they weren’t close enough for that kind of thing yet. Maybe --

“You could stay at my place for the night. Until the rain stops at least.”

He says it anyways, thoughtlessly, and feels his cheeks burn. Makoto opens his mouth, but can’t find anything else to say, so he settles for watching Yuu from the corner of his eye to see his reaction. 

Yuu looks surprised, and bites his lip as he thinks, glancing at the window again. “I don’t know,” he says, hesitant and shy, “I don’t want to intrude. Wouldn’t your parents mind?”

Makoto shrugs. “They’re not here anyways.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re on a business trip right now. They won’t be back for another week at least.”

Yuu is silent for a few seconds, and all Makoto can hear is his own heart drumming in his ears, drowning out the storm. 

He looks up at Makoto, blue eyes bright with emotion he can’t identify, and says, “Okay.”

Makoto can’t help but beam and throw his arm around Yuu’s shoulder. “Let’s get going then!” he says, guiding Yuu towards the gym’s doors. 

A large gust of wind blows rain into them when they reach the door, and all Makoto can do is laugh, relishing the feeling of cold raindrops on his skin. Yuu shied away from the rain, but still slowly held a hand out to catch raindrops, looking up at the grey sky with reverent eyes. 

“Alright, wait here while I get my bike,” Makoto says, voice nearly drowned out by a clap of thunder. He’s gone before Yuu can say anything, and is left watching Makoto dash out into the rain. It’s quiet, suddenly, without Makoto’s presence. Like the rain washed away the sound and color around him. Yuu steps back into the gym a little more.

Makoto returns minutes later, soaked through but grinning as he pedals up to the gym. He waves at Yuu, who closes the gym doors behind him as he runs into the rain. 

He settles behind Makoto, peering past Makoto’s shoulders and blinking rain out of his eyes. His hair is plastered to his face, and the wind blew it back into his face everytime he brushed them away. Deciding that it was rather useless trying to fix his hair, Yuu wrapped his arms around Makoto. 

They were off without another word.

Although the rain was cold, Makoto was warm and soft and Yuu couldn’t help but lean against him some more. He could hear Makoto’s heart pounding, louder than the thunder and lightning that fell alongside the rain. He presses his cheek against Makoto’s back and gives a contented sigh.

Makoto grips the handlebars tighter and tries to force himself to relax. But Yuu’s there and so close and  _ he’s pressed up against him and--  _

He can’t handle it. 

The rain can’t wash away the heat blooming on his cheeks, and he bites down hard into his lip to keep from grinning like a lovestruck fool. It doesn’t help much, but the pain is enough to force him to focus on the road, and keep pedaling without fear of crashing.

There’s no one else outside, and the world is silenced under the fall of rain. It’s grey and empty and makes them feel like the only people in the world.

They move between the sheets of rain until the bike slowly comes to a stop. Makoto taps Yuu’s hand lightly, a silent signal that they had reached his house. Yuu pulls away, dragging his hands along Makoto’s waist as he did.

“Is this it?” he asks, blinking the rain out of his eyes.

“Yeah,” Makoto replies, “This is it.”

The house was large, two stories, with a traditional garden fenced in around the front. The rain gave it a grey color, but it felt empty and silent regardless. 

Makoto walks his bike up the front gate and unlocks it, holding it open as he waits for Yuu to go in.

He ducks his head as he passes Makoto, and hurries up to the front door. Makoto follows slowly, head tilted up to the sky. Yuu’s eyes follow the path of raindrops rolling down Makoto’s neck. He feels his face heat up and quickly looks away, swallowing heavily and hanging his head, hoping his long hair would hide him. 

Makoto doesn’t notice. He focuses on the cold rain the trails down his skin, feeling it splatter against him in bursts of cold. 

He leans his bike against the wall besides the front door, then unlocked it and nudged Yuu inside. 

Inside was cold. The house was dark and silent and  _ cold _ . Makoto takes a moment to curse his forgetfulness, for he had forgotten to turn on the heating again. He shivers as raindrops roll down his back. 

Yuu shivers too, and shakes his head, letting loose a spray of cold water. 

Makoto laughs, bringing a hand up to fend off the spray.”Must you?” he asks, amusement coloring his voice.

Yuu only grins at him.

Rolling his eyes, Makoto drops his bag on the tile before slipping off his shoes. He steps up out of the entryway. Yuu follows close behind, shivering as he steps onto the cold floor.

He follows Makoto upstairs, where a change of clothes and a towel is thrown at him. Yuu fumbles for a moment before he grabs them, and looks at Makoto with confusion in his eyes.

“You’re soaked,” Makoto explains, “And you don’t have a change of clothes. Go dry off.” He points to a door down the hall, and Yuu quickly follows his directions, more than ready to get out of his wet clothing.

Makoto is taller than Yuu. He is the captain of the basketball team; of course he’s taller than Yuu. It means that the clothes he gives Yuu are much too big.

The sweater hangs off one shoulder and the sleeves swallow his hands completely.The sweatpants pool around his feet, but it’s warm and soft and smells like Makoto. 

Yuu presses the long sleeves of Makoto’s sweater to his face and smiles.

 

* * *

 

By the time Yuu got out of the bathroom, Makoto had already gathered all the warmest, softest blankets he could find. He had thrown them haphazardly onto the couch in the main room, and was arranging them when Yuu walked in.

“What are you doing?” Yuu asks as he watches Makoto tug blankets around the couch.

Makoto starts, quickly looking to the doorway where Yuu stands. His eyes wander up and down his body before he answers, snapping his gaze away from Yuu.

“Just arranging them so we’d be comfortable.”

Yuu blinks and tilts his head to one side. “What for?”

“Well,” Makoto’s hand rubs the back of his neck as he tries to force down his oncoming blush. “Since this storm is gonna last until morning, I figured we could pass time by watching movies.”

“Oh! That’s a great idea!” Makoto could swear that when Yuu beamed at him, the room brightened as if the sun had come out. He turns back to the blankets, trying in vain to get the image of Yuu in his clothes out of his head.

He’d know the other was cute, but now he was in too big clothes looking soft and adorable. The yellow rabbit he always carried around was missing, most likely still soaked and dripping in the bathroom. See Yuu’s hands empty was strange, and Makoto wanted to grab his hands to fix it.

He clears his throat. “So, what movie did you want to watch?”

Yuu shuffles to the couch, the hems of his pants pooling around his feet. He drops onto the pile of blankets Makoto was about to grab and smiles up at him. “Anything is fine!”

Makoto huffs, but drops his hands from where they were above the blankets and grabs the remote, turning on the T.V. and flipping through channels. He drops down besides Yuu, making the couch bounce. He tries not to smile at the light giggle Yuu makes, but it’s a losing battle. 

The thunder booms then, louder than any other they’ve heard, and Yuu jumps into Makoto’s side with wide eyes. He grins sheepishly when Makoto looks down at him in surprise, but makes no move to straighten up. Instead, he relaxes completely against Makoto’s side with his feet curled up under him. 

The soft sounds of the T.V. and the rain barely get their attention as they shift closer to each other. 

Without a word spoken between them, they grab the blankets surrounding them and drape them over themselves. Blanket after blanket is taken until they’re tangled together in a warm blanket cocoon,  shut away from the rest of the world. 

Makoto looks up from where he had been adjusting a blanket over his shoulders and nearly bumps his forehead against Yuu’s. They’re silent for a long moment, barely breathing as they stared at each other with wide eyes. Makoto’s heartbeat was louder than the thunder outside, yet he could hear each breath Yuu took. 

“Hi,” he says, barely louder than a whisper. 

“Hi,” Yuu parrots back, lips stretching into a soft smile, and Makoto is starstruck. 

He gives in and lets gravity pull him forward until their foreheads rest together. His eyes slip close without him being aware of it, but he didn’t need to see when he could feel Yuu so close to him; the rise and fall of his chest, the softness of his hair, their hands barely touching -- nothing has ever felt so right.

Feeling Yuu kiss him isn’t a surprise. It’s simple. Natural. Expected. 

It still fills him with so much warmth he thinks he’s kissed sunshine, but Yuu is more than that; he’s every golden thing Makoto’s ever loved, the cotton soft clouds he had always believed were out of reach. His right hand rises on its own accord and gently brushes Yuu’s hair away from his face. His hand lingers, then cups Yuu’s cheek with a gentleness he never knew he was capable of. 

The kiss lasts only seconds. It’s chaste and close-mouthed but it’s the best thing Makoto’s ever felt and he has never wanted anything more. 

He opens his eyes when Yuu’s head falls to his shoulder. His heart is beating wildly in his chest, still, and he takes a moment to breath and process and properly hold Yuu’s hand before he speaks. 

“Why haven’t you done that before?” he asks.

He can feel Yuu grin against his shoulder when he says, “We only started to properly talk to each other yesterday.”

“We could have done this yesterday is my point.”

“I was scared,” Yuu says, his thumb brushing over Makoto’s knuckles.

“Of what?”

“I don’t know,” he admits, and leans into Makoto.

Makoto lifts a hand to brush Yuu’s hair. It’s softer than he would have imagined, and the repetitive motions of his hand is strangely soothing. Yuu lets out a content hum and lazily brushes his lips against Makoto’s neck. 

“Are you still scared?” he asks, even as his heart overflows with happiness and love and every warm feeling he’s ever felt.

Yuu shakes his head. It’s a small movement, but Makoto can feel it regardless. “There’s nothing for me to be afraid of,” he answers. 

“And this isn’t a one time thing?”

“Never. I’m going to kiss you for as long as you let me.”

Makoto grins. “Forever then.”

“Forever,” Yuu agrees. 


End file.
